Confederation to Constitution 221

ONE AMERICAN’S STORYIn 1775, Daniel Boone and 30 woodsmen cut a road over the

Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky. After about 250 miles,

they arrived in a meadow along the banks of the Kentucky

River. Felix Walker, a member of Boone’s party, described

what they saw.

A VOICE FROM THE PAST

On entering the plain we were permitted to view a very interestingand romantic sight. A number of buffaloes . . . between two and three hundred, made off. . . . Such a sight some of us never saw before, nor perhaps ever may again.

Felix Walker, quoted in The Life and Adventures of Daniel Boone

In the late 1700s, most Americans thought of Kentucky as the wild

frontier. Some, like Boone, looked at the frontier and saw a world of

opportunity. Exploring and governing these lands was one of the many

challenges facing the new government of the United States.

Moving WestThe trail into Kentucky that Daniel Boone helped build was called theWilderness Road. This road was not easy to travel. It was too narrow forcarts or wagons, but it became the main road into Kentucky. The settlerscame on foot or on horseback. Settlers were drawn to Kentucky’s richriver valleys, where few Native Americans lived. But some NativeAmericans, such as the Shawnee, did live, hunt, and fish in the area.

Tensions between Native Americans and settlers led to violent con-frontations. But the settlers did not stop coming. By the early 1790s, about100,000 Americans lived there. While settlers headed into the Westernterritories, the people in the East began to create new state governments.

The Confederation Era

11

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

Early travel toKentucky is shown inthis detail of DanielBoone EscortingSettlers Through theCumberland Gap(1851–1852) by GeorgeCaleb Bingham.

The Articles of Confederation were

too weak to govern the nation after

the war ended.

The weakness of the Articles of

Confederation led to the writing of

the U.S. Constitution.

Wilderness Road

republic

Articles ofConfederation

Land Ordinance of 1785

Northwest Territory

Northwest Ordinance

Shays’s Rebellion

Problems

Western lands

Postwar depression

Representation in the new government

Slavery

Taking Notes

Use your chart to take notes about the western lands andpostwar depression.

New State GovernmentsOnce the American colonies declared independence, each of the statesset out to create its own government. The framers, or creators, of thestate constitutions did not want to destroy the political systems that theyhad had as colonies. They simply wanted to make those systems moredemocratic. Some states experimented with creating separate branchesof government, giving different powers to different branches. By creat-ing separate branches, Americans hoped to prevent the governmentfrom becoming too powerful.

Some states included a bill of rights in their constitutions as a way tokeep the government under control. The idea of a bill of rights camefrom the English Bill of Rights of 1689. This was a list of rights that thegovernment guaranteed to English citizens.

Although not all the states had a bill of rights, all of them did have arepublican form of government. In a republic, the people choose repre-sentatives to govern them.

The Articles of ConfederationWhile the states were setting up their governments, Americans also dis-cussed the form of their national government. During the RevolutionaryWar, Americans realized that they needed to unite to win the waragainst Britain. As Silas Deane, a diplomat from Connecticut, wrote,“United we stand, divided we fall.”

In 1776, the Continental Congress began to develop aplan for a national government. Congress agreed that the

government should be a republic. But the delegatesdisagreed about whether each state should have one

vote or voting should be based on population. Theyalso disagreed about whether the national govern-ment or the individual states should control thelands west of the Appalachians.

The Continental Congress eventually arrived ata final plan, called the Articles of Confederation.In the Articles, the national government had fewpowers, because many Americans were afraid thata strong government would lead to tyranny, oroppressive rule. The national government was runby a Confederation Congress. Each state had only

one vote in the Congress. The national governmenthad the power to wage war, make peace, sign treaties,

and issue money.But the Articles left most important powers to the

states. These powers included the authority to set taxesand enforce national laws. The Articles proposed toleave the states in control of the lands west of theAppalachian Mountains.

222 CHAPTER 8

BackgroundTwo states,Connecticut andRhode Island,kept their oldcolonial chartersas their constitu-tions. The other11 states wrotenew constitutions.

“United we stand,divided we fall.”

Silas Deane

A. Reading aMap Look at themap on page 223to see whichstates claimedterritories in the West.

The Continental Congress passedthe Articles of Confederation inNovember 1777. It then sent theArticles to the states for ratification, orapproval. By July 1778, eight stateshad ratified the Articles. But some ofthe small states that did not haveWestern land claims refused to sign.

These states felt that unless theWestern lands were placed under thecontrol of the national government, theywould be at a disadvantage. The stateswith Western lands could sell them topay off debts left from the Revolution.But states without lands would have dif-ficulty paying off the high war debts.

Over the next three years, all thestates gave up their claims to Westernlands. This led the small states to ratifythe Articles. In 1781, Maryland becamethe 13th state to accept the Articles. Asa result, the United States finally had anofficial government.

The Northwest OrdinanceOne of the most important questions that the Confederation Congressfaced was what to do with the Western lands that it now controlled.Congress passed important laws on how to divide and govern theselands—the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance(1787). (See Geography in History on pages 226–227.)

The Land Ordinance of 1785 called for surveyors to stake out six-mile-square plots, called townships, in the Western lands. These landslater became known as the Northwest Territory. The NorthwestTerritory included land that formed the states of Ohio, Indiana,Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.

The Northwest Ordinance (1787) described how the NorthwestTerritory was to be governed. As the territory grew in population, it wouldgain rights to self-government. When there were 5,000 free males in anarea, men who owned at least 50 acres of land could elect an assembly.When there were 60,000 people, they could apply to become a new state.

The Northwest Ordinance also set conditions for settlement in theNorthwest Territory and outlined the settlers’ rights. Slavery was out-lawed, and the rivers were to be open to navigation by all. Freedom ofreligion and trial by jury were guaranteed.

The Northwest Ordinance was important because it set a pattern forthe orderly growth of the United States. As the nation grew, it followedthis pattern in territories added after the Northwest Territory.

Confederation to Constitution 223

Original 13 statesArea of Westernland claims

0

0

250 Miles

500 Kilometers

40°N

70°W

80°W90°W

30°N

Mis s issippi

R

.

ATLANTICOCEAN

Gulf o fMexico

QUEBEC

SPANISHPOSSESSIONS

GEORGIA

VA.

VA.

GA.

GA., SPAIN

N.C.

S.C.

N.C.

VA.,N.Y.

VA., N.Y.

VA., N.Y.,

MASS.

N.Y.,N.C.

N.Y.,N.H.

VA.,MASS.

VA., CONN. VA., CONN., N.Y.

DEL.PA.

S.C.

N.C.

N.J.

NEWYORK

N.H.

MASS.

CONN.

MAINE(MASS.)

R.I.MASS.CONN.

MD.

VA.N.Y.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Maps1. Location Which of the original 13 states had Western

land claims?2. Location To what geographic feature did the

Western land claims extend?

Western Land Claims, 1781

B. Finding MainIdeas Why didthe states with-out Western landclaims want theother states togive up theirclaims?B. Answer Thestates withoutclaims feared thatthe states withclaims would bericher andstronger thanthem.

BackgroundAccording to theNorthwestOrdinance, NativeAmericans wereto be treatedfairly, and theirlands were not to be taken from them.

SkillbuilderAnswers 1. Virginia, NewYork, Massachu-setts, Connecticut,North Carolina,South Carolina,Georgia, and NewHampshire2. Mississippi River

Weaknesses of the ArticlesAside from its handling of land issues, however, the ConfederationCongress had few successes. By the end of the Revolutionary War, theUnited States faced serious problems, and the Confederation Congressdid not have enough power to solve them.

Debt was a critical problem forthe government. Congress had bor-rowed large sums to pay for theRevolutionary War. Much of thatmoney was owed to soldiers of itsown army. Upset at not being paid,several hundred soldiers sur-rounded the Pennsylvania StateHouse where Congress was meet-ing in June 1783. The soldiersthreatened the legislators, thrustingtheir bayonets through the win-dows. The delegates were forced toflee the city. The event was a clearsign of Congress’s weakness.

Even if Congress wanted to paythe soldiers, it did not have thepower to levy taxes. The nationalgovernment depended on the statesto send money to Congress. But thestates sent very little money.

Congress was not alone in facingeconomic crises. People through-out the nation faced hard times. InMassachusetts, the economy wasso bad that people rose up in armsagainst the government.

Shays’s RebellionIn the mid-1780s, Massachusetts faced economic problems, as did otherstates. People had little money, but the state continued to levy high taxes.The average family owed $200 in taxes per year—more money thanmost farmers made. Many Massachusetts farmers fell deeply into debt.Debt laws at the time were strict. Anyone who could not repay his debtswould have his property auctioned off. If the auction didn’t raise enoughmoney to settle the debts, the debtor could be put in jail. In westernMassachusetts, many jails were packed with debtors.

Farmers asked the Massachusetts legislature to provide debt relief.But the legislature refused—and the farmers rebelled. One of the lead-ers of the rebellion was a Revolutionary War veteran named DanielShays. He commanded a group of about 1,500 men.

224 CHAPTER 8

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Charts1. What do you think was the greatest success of the

Continental Congress?2. What do you think was the greatest weakness of the

Articles of Confederation?

U.S. Government, 1776–1787

Weaknesses of the Articlesof Confederation

Successes of the Continental Congress

Skillbuilder Answers1. Possible ResponseGoverning thenation during theRevolutionary War,because if the warwas lost, therewould be no nation.

2. PossibleResponses Somestudents might saythe lack of thepower to tax,because it meantthe governmentcould not pay forwhat it wanted todo. Others mightsay the require-ment for all 13states to agree,because it couldparalyze Congress.

C. AnalyzingCauses How diddebt cause prob-lems for the U.S.governmentunder theArticles ofConfederation?C. AnswerCongress couldnot raise moneyto pay its debts,even to the sol-diers who hadfought the war.

Lacked power to enforce laws

Lacked power to levy taxes

Lacked power to regulate tradeamong the states

Required all 13 states to approvechanges in the Articles

Governed the nation during theRevolutionary War

Negotiated the Treaty of Paris at theend of the war

Passed the Land Ordinance of 1785

Passed the Northwest Ordinance(1787)

•

•

••

•••

•

In January 1787, Shays and his men marched on a fed-eral arsenal, a place to store weapons. The arsenal wasdefended by 900 soldiers from the state militia. The mili-tia quickly defeated Shays’s men. But even though the militia put downShays’s Rebellion, as the uprising came to be known, the farmers wonthe sympathy of many people. America’s leaders realized that an armeduprising of common farmers spelled danger for the nation.

Some leaders hoped that the nation’s ills could be solved by strength-ening the national government. In the next section, you’ll read howAmericans held a convention to change the Articles of Confederation.

BackgroundIn 1788, DanielShays was pardoned for his actions.

2. Using GraphicsUse a diagram like the onebelow to list some of thechallenges Americans faced inshaping a new government.

Which challenge do you thinkwas the toughest? Why?

3. Main Ideasa. What issues affected theWestern territories between1775 and 1787?

b. What were three successesof the Continental Congress?

c. What were the strengthsand weaknesses of theArticles of Confederation?

4. Critical ThinkingForming and SupportingOpinions Which side wouldyou have supported duringShays’s Rebellion—the farm-ers or the officials who calledout the militia? Why?

THINK ABOUT• the farmers’ problems• the farmers’ march on

the arsenal• the job of the government

1. Terms & NamesExplain the

significance of:• Wilderness Road• republic• Articles of

Confederation• Land Ordinance

of 1785• Northwest Territory• Northwest

Ordinance• Shays’s Rebellion

Section Assessment

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

CIVICSGEOGRAPHY

Write an opinion article about how the United States should govern the Westernterritories or draw a map showing how you would have divided the lands.

1

Challenges

Shays’s rebels takeover a Massachu-setts courthouse.A stone markerrests on the spotof the rebellion.

Confederation to Constitution 225